Best posts made by LAH3385

@MattSpeller Thanks!

I am doing some troubleshooting and wonder if there is a way to alert when a device went offline. Currently I am using CMD script where it will log when IP address is unreachable. But I want a way to alert me as well.

What happens is our phone system stop responding 3 days in a roll. I am not sure if it is our switch, which also shown sign of issue with connectivity, or the phone system itself. By pinging the phone system I will know what time it went down which might come in handy.

Anyway to make it alert when a device went offline or unreachable?

As the topic said is it possible to have a virtual USB drive?

Back story: We have a very old door badge system which still run on Windows XP. I looked around and know that I cannot easily replace the hardware once it died. So after some googling I found that Microsoft has a program which can convert a physical disk into VHDX for Hyper-V (Windows server 2012 R2). The problem is with the USB dongle. The USB dongle is a security clearance for the application. Without it the program will run in READ-ONLY mode.

Window server 2012 R2 has a function for USB passthrough but that may only work if I connect physical USB into the port. I want to be able to convert the USB into virtual state as well as I am running on limited USB ports here.

Here is the question: I need to be able to attach a USB onto the Virtual Machine without using existing USB port. Is it possible to do so? The program in question is at least 7 years old and I have little to no manual on the program it self. The company that installed said they only service current or previous generation version only. The one I have is 4 generations ago.

@JaredBusch Your point is valid. I fully support your argument.

@Dashrender said:

This is a door badge system. So what happens when the badge system fails? Does that mean you have to pass out keys so people can get into the building? or can't people get in?

Find out what the real costs are for this system failing, have a full well understood recovery plan for failure, and if that requires spending.. the CEO will either choose to do it, or he won't.

The responsibility is clearly in his hands once you explain the situation... Sure it will make you unhappy if he chooses not to do it, but you've done all you can, and according to Scott, all you should do.

That is true. At the very least I will bring this up, gives him options, and wait for his decision.
Even if the door badge system failed, people can still get in/out. The only problem is I will lose the ability to add new cards or de-registered cards.

@Dashrender said:

Currently restoring just the drive in an attempt to just get the system booting.

If that works, then I'll restore the other partitions later.

Or you could go P2V right now and update your DR. I am currently in progress of converting all of our servers into VMs.

So we used to be Software development company. In the past couple of years, we expanded new branches to new area. As time goes on our Software development team branched off to form a separate company using different name. With that.. our company no longer is a software development company. Can we still get Microsoft competency? Or Actionpack?

@RojoLoco I was on 40 minutes hold then I gave up, and post the question here.

@iroal said:

I made it !!

Following this Tutorial

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee731893(WS.10).aspx

After this tutorial I get a blue screen but with the DVD and reparing the boot It works now.

There is something strange anyway, the keyboard reaction is very slow.

Regards

The slow respond probably due to drivers. I had slow network connection when remote in. After a Chipset driver update I am good to go.
But since you installed in on a removable drive the cause might be different

I don't know yet. I got a feeling he's talking about Sharepoint but not sharepoint??

As the topic said... How much harder is MCSA vs MCSE.
I am about to take the first exam for MCSA Server and wonder if I should set my goal only for MCSA or go all out to MCSE?
What is the benefit for MCSE over MCSA would be my next question.

Thanks!!

I know Google provide ADMX to allow Force Install for extensions. What about Remove? How can I force remove Google Chrome extensions?

LOL!!! I didn't realize there is ASK a QUESTION button. I will do so from now on.

Which is better in your own perspective? The tasks I want to accomplish is inventory computer name along with program installed. If possible I want to know which user logged on to which computer as well.

If there are other features each program can do please enlighten me.
Thanks!

@LAH3385 I guess a better question for you is: How did you know, or realized, AD replication has stop working?

So the New Dell Optiplex series come with m.2. Question is.. is it AHCI or NVME? How to tell?
http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/dell-updates-optiplex-lineup-dellworld,1-2963.html

How much of a performance different between 2.5" Samsung 850 EVO & m.2 Samsung 850?

After a bit more looking around, the 7040 seems to come with NVME M.2. But what about 5040? Can't seem to find any reliable informaiton

Anyone work in a high call volume environment? We need an application to create a report of how many an agent has made through out the day. We are using CAllAnalyst and it seem to be broken. The technician that used to assist us no longer with the company, and his replacements just do not have a single clue how the application actual works.

Our phone system is NEC SV9100. If there is an opensource application that works too.
Thanks

@johnhooks said:

@Dashrender said:

@johnhooks said:

@Dashrender said:

Mitel only gives the barest of logs... if you want more than that is like $10K for the reporting software.

That's insane. The place I was supposed to work for uses Mitel. He said they were stuck in a contract and couldn't get away from it.

Huh - I wonder what kind of contract?

The only thing that I can think that we'd be stuck with would be a year's worth of updates if we paid a yearly software maintenance fee.

I suppose they could be purely leasing the phone system.

I really don't think the guy knew what he was talking about. He said a few questionable things, so I kind of figured that wasn't the case. That was kind of one reason why I didn't take the job.

Some vendor force you to sign contract with them with promises of support for a period of years. We were almost got into one of those contract before. The contract stated that we must use their vendor as a sole provider for said equipment in exchange to lower rate. It was ridiculous. Plus, the "lower rate" was like 5-10% lower than their competitors. I even found some online retailer/vendor that sell phones, handset, labels, etc for 30-50% less. Glad we didn't go with them.

Still... have to say going with NEC was a mistake as well. Their quality is okay. But their support is questionable to failure. They have these "certified technician" from their vendors. These "certified technician" only know enough for them to get by each day. Worst part is they will not blame their knowledge or equipment even if it is their fault. One time our phones stop communicating to each other. They troubleshoot it for days with no success. Then I realized the phone server and the phones are on different subnet (DHCP). By statically assign all devices to be on the same subnet resolve the issue. Was it our fault for our DHCP to do what it was designed to do and cause the problem? I had multiple PCs, printers, and other devices on different subnet with no issue. Come the phone system and everything just went haywire. Afterward they billed us $500+ for their hours...that did not solve the problem. They were only doing Wireshark, restarting equipments, logging errors. Their written reasons do not make sense either. They stated that the problem was cause because our switch assign different ip addresses to each devices. They even (try to act smart) include the subnet 192.168.3.x when do don't even have that scope in our DHCP server. I mean.. switch assign DHCP?? That made me laugh for a while. We were confused as to why we have to pay them, but in the end we did pay them. Our vendor is just a hungry hyena. Right now we are actively seeking another vendor.. or only rely on them only for licenses, and get equipment from online vendor.

Feel good venting this out.

@Jason said:

@LAH3385 said:

20 minutes is too long. I could walk away, take a dump, play one level of Angry Bird, buy a drink at vending machine, and come back within 20 minutes.

Teach your users Window Key+L The screen saver is only suppose to be a backup.

We had it as a Wallpaper to remind users to Lock their Workstation when away. We even taught some users how to flip screen via keyboard then lock the workstation. They would flip any workstation that was left alone without locking.

Thank you all Back to normal now.